Ralph Frese, 1926-2012

From his Chicagoland Canoe Base shop on the Northwest Side, Ralph Frese launched much more than canoes.

He introduced thousands of people to the pleasures of paddling a canoe or kayak across Illinois' waterways, getting in touch with the natural world that surrounds us even in big cities.

"He was an activist interested in our river trails," said Larry Suffredin, Cook County Forest Preserve District Board commissioner for the 13th District, who first met Mr. Frese while running for the board.

"He took me under his wing and explained the importance of those water trails," Suffredin said.

A section of the North Branch of the Chicago River from Willow Road in Northfield to Dempster Street in Morton Grove was designated the Ralph Frese River Trail by the forest preserve district.

Mr. Frese, 86, died of complications from cancer Monday, Dec. 10, at Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter in Glenview, according to his wife, Rita. He lived in the Chicago area most of his life.

In the early 1950s, Mr. Frese started the Illinois Paddling Council, said the group's current president, Tom Lindblade. The goal then was to have the Fox River designated a wilderness river. While that never happened, Mr. Frese's efforts helped raise awareness of protecting Illinois waterways from untamed development and pollution.

Mr. Frese also started several long-running paddling events, including the Des Plaines River Marathon begun in 1958 and the New Year's Day Canoe Paddle. That event, now in its 27th year, draws hundreds of paddlers to travel a 4-mile stretch of the Chicago River's North Branch on the first day of the year. Paddlers are advised to dress warmly and maintain a sense of humor.

Mr. Frese was a fourth-generation blacksmith who was still plying the blacksmith trade in a building adjacent to his Northwest Side canoe shop, using a forge to make high-quality tools for stonemasons and sculptors.

"He may have been the last blacksmith working in Chicago," Suffredin said.

Blacksmithing provided an outlet for Mr. Frese's creativity, his wife said. He also expressed his creativity in the canoes he built and restored.

Mr. Frese told the Tribune in 2008 that his first boat was a canvas kayak he bought for $15 when he was 14 years old. From then on, he spent time paddling Chicago-area rivers and extolling the virtues of riverbank wilderness.

He began building boats in the 1950s, helping Boy Scout troops craft canoes for camping trips. His interest in the natural history of Illinois waterways was complemented by his extensive knowledge of the history of the state's settlement.

As part of his interest in Illinois history, Mr. Frese participated in re-enactments of early voyages by such long-ago explorers as Robert de LaSalle, Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet. He not only participated in the trips but built fiberglass replicas of some of the birch bark voyageur-type canoes used by those early settlers, some as long as 34 feet.

In addition to his birch bark canoes, Mr. Frese was well known for a fiberglass canoe he designed called the Canadienne. When demand for the fast wood-trimmed boat outstripped his ability to make the boat, he leased the manufacturing rights to a larger company.

All of his efforts were focused on getting people into canoes and kayaks and introducing them to the beauty of Illinois rivers, Suffredin said.

"He was interested in the environment and in keeping people at home in Illinois," his wife said. "We have so many beautiful rivers and streams, people could paddle here for months at a time and not paddle the same area twice."

"As people use these various waterway trails for recreational canoeing and see where dams have been removed, it will be because of Ralph," Suffredin said of Mr. Frese's legacy.

Mr. Frese also is survived by two daughters, Diane Gritton and Valerie Fetcho; a son, Chaz Clary; a sister, Gloria; and four grandchildren.

A wake will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday followed by a service at 8 p.m., both at Simkins Funeral Home, 6251 W. Dempster St., Morton Grove.